Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me and they never will. They belong to Jo Rowling (bow) and only she knows what happens to them at all times. I'm only letting my muse to play with the characters for a while because of my idleness. I must warn you English is not my mother tongue. I'm mexican so Spanish is easier for me. But I do like English a lot and I like to practice every now and then. If you see any spelling or grammar mistake please let me know, but don't be so harsh. I'll never be as good in English as I am in spanish.
This fic does has a particular purpose actually. I was rumiaging through the forums and I found a very interesting question. My muse got creative and here I am, responding it. For those who wants to know what is it. Here.
From Harry Potter Fanfic challenges, there was a Remus Lupin challenge proposed by pineappletop92. The question was: "What would happen to Remus Lupin during a lunar eclipse?"
And I have to thank Bella for being my Beta and correcting all the mistakes I missed. So, for now I'll say nothing more. Here is the fanfic. Enjoy.
Moonless
By Uyuki
It was autum, and like every year, the trees were gaining a sort of copper tone while the wind blew softly, tearing up some of the prematurely golden leaves. Remus Lupin loved this time of the year. It was the perfect balance, not too hot and not too cold. You could always go out and enjoy the breeze by the lake or stay inside the castle near the fire. Then there were those nights. Oh, those nights, so full of stars in a deep blue sky, shining as if nothing else mattered. The only thing that Remus actually disliked was the moon.
As long as it was just half-full, he wouldn't mind; but the boy knew that with the passing of time the moon would become a perfect grey circle in the sky, and he would no longer be Remus Lupin. He would become Moony, the werewolf.
There was no cure yet. His parents had done everything in their power to help him, but so far he was still assaulted by the same pain every month. He had to lock himself in a room, knowing that if anybody entered he might bite them and curse them in the same way he was. He had thought there would be no way he could attend school with other students around him. It would be so dangerous.
Luckily enough for him Albus Dumbledore managed to let him attend Hogwarts, and for six wonderful years he had gained friends and so many happy memories that his transformations each month were made even more bearable. His three best friends knew about his condition, and instead of running away they studied harder in order to become animagi and join him during his "nights off" as they used to call it.
"Hey Moony, are you alright? You're awfully quiet this morning."
Sirius' voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He smiled briefly towards his friend.
"It's nothing. Just thinking."
"What about?" asked Peter who had been trying to concentrate on his Potions homework but had failed miserably and was now counting clouds, bored as hell.
"You guys... and our nights off."
"Oh... I like those. Hey James, when is the next one?" The rat-faced boy rose up from his back and stared at his friend.
"Three days if my maths is correct."
"It should be," said Remus softly, "I'm already feeling weak."
"Well don't even worry about it," said Sirius with a big smile on his face while he put a hand on Remus' shoulder, "we'll have a great time as we always do. Won't we boys?"
"Yes Sirius, we will," said James without looking at him, "as long as you don't go crazy like the last time."
Sirius shot him a deadly look but said nothing more. He knew that James was talking about that broken window in the sweet shop. Which was as much his fault as it was James' fault. He remembered perfectly well that the four were walking calmly until all the sweets appeared into their field of vision. Then James thought it might be a good idea to get some sweets back home. Sirius agreed. Peter made excited noises and Remus howled happily. Eventually the window was broken by the two big animagi and the next morning they all had lots of sweets in their trunks.
"Anyway..." started Sirius after a moment of silence, "we need something to do. Sundays are so boring sometimes."
"You could always do your homework on time for a change, you know." suggested Remus.
"Why bother when I can do it in the night."
"We could go and grab some food," interrupted Peter, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. And lunch is not for another two hours."
"You know Wormtail... that is the best idea you've had this morning. Lets go."
"You're not sneaking into the kitchens again, are you?" enquired the boy with spectacles.
"No James. I'm not sneaking into the kitchens again. I'm going in the kitchen. Which is completely different."
Both boys got up and disappeared among the students. James smiled entertained and went back to his reading. He would've joined those two if he didn't have so homework to do. Remus only had a faint smile on his face. Not because of Sirius and Peter's mischief... but because of the soft brush of Sirius' hand on his shoulder.
-o0o-
Wednesday night arrived. Remus left the school by sunset, so that he could be away from everyone before his transformation. Sirius, Peter and James knew that they had to wait a couple of hours until it was dark enough and the moon high in the sky before going out after their friend.
"Oh, I can't wait 'til it's dark," muttered Peter softly, so that no one in the common room could hear him, "I'd love some more sweets."
"We can't break that window again."
"I won't break it; I'll sneak under the door and eat the sweets there."
"That's not fair," snapped Sirius all of a sudden, "you can't have all the sweets for yourself! If you're sneaking in, you're taking some out with you."
Peter smiled at him mischievously and said nothing. He knew that he had to take some sweets back, he was intending to do so anyway, but the possibility of making Sirius believe otherwise just to see his face was so funny that even James wouldn't say anything against it. Bothering Sirius once in a while was a good hobby to pursue.
"I don't have to bring back anything to you," he said finally, thinking carefully about his words, "if I recall correctly, you got us in trouble the last time and I had a detention because of it."
"I wasn't my fault," replied Sirius, desperately trying to defend himself, "Right Prongs?"
"Don't ask me, I got detention too. And McGonagall wasn't very soft I may add."
"Prongs... I never would have believed that you among all of us would leave me alone in this tragedy," delcareed Sirius with the biggest sad face he could make.
"What tragedy?" asked Peter in the edge of laughter, "you'll only miss a couple of sweets."
At this point, and obviously noticing that Peter could no longer hold a straight face, Sirius realised they were just teasing him. Sometimes they were so cruel.
"You are mean, Peter Pettigrew," Sirius burst out, "and you James. How could you?"
The brown-haired boy only smiled.
"It's funny to see that face of yours," answered the rat-faced boy back. "Now come on, lets go and get ourselves ready, we should be able to go out in about an hour and I would like that at least more than five people see us going to sleep or we'll have no alibi if someone tries to accuse us of sneaking out in the middle of the night." said Peter very seriously.
"My, you always think of everything, don't you?"
"My dear Sirius. We always have to. We wouldn't be marauders if we didn't."
"He has a point there," agreed James going upstairs.
The other two boys followed him noisily; just to make sure everybody knew they were upstairs.
-o0o-
Remus was alone as usual when it occurred. The pain was running through his body since early in the morning, but it was not until then that it became unbearable. His bones were changing and so was his body in order to adapt itself. Hair was growing everywhere and his feet and hands were re-shaping. The boy was screaming loudly, until his own face started changing and those screams stopped. Now he was howling painfully.
By the time it was finished, Remus had a number of scars over his body. All of them self-inflicted during the transformation. At least now he was okay, he just needed to lick off some of the blood and wait for the other animals to come. The wolf already knew them so he didn't consider attacking them when they entered through the door.
A huge black dog stormed in running. Moony recognized him as Padfoot and immediately howled at him happily. The black dog grinned and barked back. Everyone was there.
The four animals went outside to walk around as they usually did, enjoying the night and barking or howling constantly while they ran through the empty streets. It was the most fun they could actually have without being caught and punished by any teacher. Who would ever think that they were animagus at all?
Not even Dumbledore, and it was said that he could read the students minds. They never saw him doing that, but still, they were careful enough not to look him straight into his eyes every time they did a joke to someone else.
Suddenly, the barking of the huge black dog captured the attention of the rest of the animals. They moved near him and stare at the window of the sweet shop. It was repaired from the last time and the sweets were there. Lying quietly, waiting for students to buy them. Or steal them.
The four of them thought the same thing at the same time. Wormtail knew he had to enter under the door, transform into a human to open the door from inside, get back into his rat form and let the others in. It was the perfect plan. No one would ever know what happened.
But just before they could actually do it, something happened that made them stop. A desperate howl got their full attention, and three of the four animals turned around. Their eyes met Remus, who was howling while he dropped to the floor, his teeth biting himself out of pain. His whole body convulsing horribly.
His friends were scared. This had never happened before and they didn't know what to do next. Should they get help? Was this normal? Was it a side effect? They didn't had the answers and so they waited to see what happened next.
In a matter of seconds, part of the body of the wolf started to change. One leg was now part human, so as one hand. The jaws were significantly smaller and the eyes were human eyes, but his ears remained the same. It was monstrous. Half of his body was now a human body, the body of the boy during normal days. The other half was still a were-wolf and it wasn't changing.
The three animagi transformed again into humans quickly. Something was terribly wrong.
"James, what's happening? What's wrong with his body?"
"I don't know. I've never seen him like this." answer the boy with spectacles just as puzzled as his friend was.
"Hey guys. Look at the sky."
Peter's voice made them turn their heads up. It was supposed to be a full moon night, but when they saw the white circle - a piece of it was dark… and it was still moving towards the rest of the moon. An eclipse was in course.
"James-"
"Yes?"
"Can this affect Moony like this?"
"For what I see, yes. It can." answered the boy still looking at the moon, one quarter of it was black now.
"Should we call someone?" suggested Peter, "He seems to be in a lot of pain."
Sirius' eyes looked back at Remus; the half were-wolf was still howling- and half yelling.
"We can't," he said finally, his eyes reflecting a lot of sadness, "If anyone sees us here-"
Peter nodded. He knew it was not a good idea. But letting Remus suffer like that wasn't fair at all. It was cruel. It wasn't what friends did for each other. They should at least take him back.
"Well, even if we don't get any help at all, we should get back. Staying here is not going to do anything for him, and when the eclipse passes he is going to be too weak in order to walk."
"Peter is right. Come on Sirius, we'll need that big dog of yours to carry him back."
The three friends let the three animals out again. Prongs took Moony by his antlers and placed him in Sirius' back, the big dog started walking then, with the deer just behind him, to hold Remus if he slipped.
By the time they reached their refuge, the moon was almost gone, just a pale glow remained before all the light disappeared, just leaving a big black whole in the sky.
In that moment, the part of the body, which remained as a were-wolf started to change, thinking there was no more moon. The boy screamed again in pain as he recovered his human form. Remus opened his eyes just to see his friends' faces worried sick for him.
"Remus, are you all right?"
"No. I feel like I'm dying," the brown-haired boy was trying to catch his breath. He was exhausted, "What happened?"
"There's an eclipse going on," said James, "Has this happened before?"
"Once, but I was too little to remember it."
Before the boy could say anything else, his body started to change again. The eclipse was passing and a white glow appeared again in the sky. For a long time, Remus' body remained half human and half were-wolf. It was actually kind of ironic, since a were-wolf was partially human instead of a wolf. Nevertheless it was too painful.
When the moon was complete again, the were-wolf re-appeared, just as it was supposed to be in the first place. But it was so tired that he just laid in the floor, harmless. He closed his eyes and fall sleep immediately. The three animagi decided it was time to go back to Hogwarts.
They couldn't do anything else for him.
-o0o-
The next morning, James, Peter and Sirius went straight to the infirmary; they were so worried that none of them could get any sleep at all and they just kept thinking about Remus. But when the got there, the brown-haired boy was there, just like all the other times. He had more scars on his body, but other than that he seemed perfectly normal.
"How are you feeling now Remus?"
"Quite good, everything considered. Did I scared you?"
"Just a little," confessed Peter.
"It scared me too; I didn't know what was going on until you told me, I think I don't want another eclipse to happen again."
"Well, if it does, I'll be there for you," said Sirius confidently, "You won't be alone."
Remus smiled at him, he knew that Sirius would keep that promise as long as he actually could. He was aware of his friend's feelings for him, but he didn't want to say anything just yet. He wasn't ready for that. He wasn't sure if he would let Sirius love him while he was a were-wolf. It was too risky.
"We'll be waiting for you," commented James trying to get everybody out. Remus needed some rest, "Take care and don't hurry, you need rest."
"Thanks James."
After that the three left the infirmary just before Remus fell asleep again.
-o0o-
That night, Sirius sneaked out of his dormitory with James' invisibility cloak and went down to see Remus. He was asleep, but still Sirius called him. He wanted to speak with him.
"Remus, wake up!"
The boy opened his eyes puzzled. It was around two in the morning. He turned around and saw Sirius standing by his side.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?"
"I need to speak to you, about what I said earlier."
"Can't it wait 'til morning, I'm tired," whispered Remus.
"No, there will be too many people around. It's too personal."
Remus sat on his bed with a sigh. Sirius wasn't going to leave until he talked and he knew he had no option but to listen. Although he already knew what that was about.
"Is it about you being in love with me?" snapped the brown-haired boy.
Sirius turned pale all of a sudden. So he knew.
"Was I too obvious?"
"Just a bit."
"Well, yes, it is. I love you; I wanted it to be a more romantic declaration, but anyway. I need to know."
Remus bit his low lip quietly. He didn't know how to answer. He did love Sirius. But he didn't want him to take any risk that could take away his life. He wanted to be sure that Sirius would be safe beside him. And while he was a were-wolf there was no chance.
"Sirius I… you don't understand. It's too risky for you. I'm a threat, to anyone. And I would hate for you to be a victim."
"I know that, but there's no cure. You can't be alone the rest of your life," said Sirius a bit louder.
"I can't be with someone either."
"Fine. Then answer me something else. If you weren't a were-wolf, what would your answer be?"
That was unfair, and Remus knew it. Sirius was just playing a game. Sure, he couldn't answer being a were-wolf, so the boy was putting a whole different situation just to hear what he wanted to hear. Although, Remus had to admit that it was clever.
"Then I'd said yes. I do love you Sirius. I didn't know I could love someone like this. You're everything to me."
"Good. I wanted to hear it."
"Still, we can't. I'm still a were-wolf."
"And I don't care."
And immediately Sirius approached him and kissed him on the lips. Pressing harder in order to get an answer from Remus. He wasn't going to let him go just like that. Not even if he was a dangerous were-wolf.
Surprisingly, Remus kissed him back. It was so sweet and tender.
From that moment, Remus Lupin knew that no matter what, Sirius would be beside him. Even in the most difficult of times. Or during another eclipse.
He was no longer alone.
END.
So, now, why did I do that?
Okay, we now that Remus transforms into a were-wolf when he sees the moon. I don't remember accurately, but in the 3rd movie he transformed only until the moon came out of the clouds. So I took that as a base.
During an eclipse, the moon dissapears momentarily, so I think Remus's body might be confused, because the moon is going away, is not full anymore but deep inside, he knows that the whole moon is there. During those moments he changes back into a half human half were-wolf out of confusion. And he actually gains his normal human body the few minutes the moon is gone completely, just to change back a bit later, when we have a full moon again.
I don't know if is a good explanation or if it's just crazy, but I liked the challenge and this is what came into my mind.
Hope you like it.